The subject matter of this invention relates to a vehicle signaling system, and more particularly to a lighting system for advising motorists following a motor vehicle that a vehicle is being decelerated at a rapid rate to give those motorists indication of a potentially dangerous situation occurring.
The subject matter of this invention is deemed to be an improvement of U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,177 issued May 19, 1987, entitled BRAKE LIGHT SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE by the present inventor. Also, the subject matter of this invention is essentially identical to previously submitted U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/158,646, filed Feb. 22, 1988, now abandoned.
During the course of operating a motor vehicle, a motorist must be constantly aware of the manner in which most other motorists are operating their vehicle. In the case of a motorist following a motor vehicle, the following motorist must be careful to maintain a safe stopping distance between his vehicle and the vehicle which he is following. It has therefore been the general practice to equip all motor vehicles with brake lights that are visible to the following motorists and are automatically energized whenever the vehicle on which such are mounted is being braked.
It is common to utilize a pair of spaced apart red lights mounted at the rear of the motor vehicle which is activated upon the vehicle being braked. The intensity of the brake lights is constant. Also, the brake lights are activated during the entire time the braking of the motor vehicle is occurring. A following driver is unable to ascertain whether the vehicle is merely slowing down or is making a fast emergency stop.
In the past, various systems have been constructed to indicate to following motorists that a vehicle is being decelerated at an unusually rapid rate. Such a system is shown or taught within the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,177. The structure of the aforementioned Patent provides for the inclusion of an additional series of lights which are to be progressively actuated as the severity of the braking of the motor vehicle occurs. However, an additional expense is required to supply the additional series of lights.
Incorporated within all cars and trucks is an emergency flashing light system. This emergency flashing light system is to be activated by an on/off switch by the operator of the motor vehicle when the motor vehicle is potentially dangerous such as being stopped alongside of a roadway. This emergency flashing light system causes the brake lights mounted in the rear of the motor vehicle and the parking lights mounted in the front of the motor vehicle to flash continuously "on" and "off". Other motor vehicle operators have grown accustomed when seeing "flashing" lights to recognize that a potentially dangerous situation is apparent.